Railway-car truck



T. ELLIOTT. BAILWAYCAR TRUCK. APPLlCATlG N FILED MAR. 21. I921.

Patented Aug. 9, 19211.,

QLJM'AY,

T. ELLIOTT.

RAILWAY CAR TRUCK. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1921.-

Patented Aug. 9,1921;

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

'T. ELLIOTT.

RAILWAY CAR TRUCK. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21. 1921 1 886853 a Patented Aug. 9, 19219 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

T. ELLIOTT. RAILWAY CAR TRUCK. APPLICATION FILED MAR.2I, 1921".

Patented Aug. 9, 19211.

4 SHEETS-SHEET INVEN TOR irrorwvsva line substantially coincident 1 suspension devices which swinging suspension truck as were springs as against ELLIOTT, 0F CINCINEXAEI,

, 0F CINCINNATI, (EH16, A CORPORATIQI?!" 0E QHLEQ.

RAELWAY-CAR TRUCK.

Application filed March 21, 19211,

erence being bad therein to the accompanyingdrawing. This invention relates to improvements in railway car trucks, particularly cars of the type generally used in interurban and city railway systems."

The essential are 2- (1..) Side beams for the truck frame offset to bring their middle portion inward to a with the wheels,

the several. ,purposes of locating the links by which thecar body is sustained outside of tbe'tr'uclt' side features of 'rny invention for 'mernbers; of giving accessibility tothe truck heretofore have I been as tar inside of the side members of the the wheels; otshortening'the distance between the middle portion of one side truck. member and the other so as to re-' duce the span of the unsupported part of the l transonis or cross beams which extend from one side member to the other; mast locating the point of connection between the side members and the gusset plates which support the transoms at a place inside of the location of the brake levers, so that levers can have-their fore and aft movement without being interfered with by the gusset plates.

(2.) Springs for supporting the car body located transversely ofthe truck, with their outer portions suspended from the side members of thetrucla frame at oints out-i side of such members, combined with suitable bolsters by which the car bodies are supported and the weight. portions of the springs, thisorganization permitting the body to swing laterally when traveling on curves instead of rolling over toward the outside, as results from the cornnion construction; thisspring arrangement also preventing longitudinal travel of the car body, as when starting and stopping, by reason of the rigidity of the transverse fiexure in a longitudinal direction, as also by reason of the rigidity of the suspension links between the springs Specification of Letters Yate'nt.

leaf springs-on a the brake transferred to the middle- S crial lt'on 45 1:9329

, and side members of the truck as against lost motion -longitudinally. I

(3.) The provision of coiled springs in addition to the leaf springs, the coiled springs being located between the bolster and the leaf springs at points where the leaves of the leaf springs are more in numher than they are at and near the supporting links, thus in eiiect springs and enabling'them tocarry a greater weight; this arrangement permitting all of Patented Ange a, seat,

reinforcing the leaf the leaf springs for the various weights of car bodies to be made uniform but to be supplemented by the coiled springs when the bodies pass a weight This IGSllltSlll economy in manugiven point in respect to their facture because permits of using uniform being omitted or weights, the coiled spring of the par-- added according to the weight ticular body to be mounted.

In the accompanying drawings: Figural is a side elevation of a railway car truck embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of

"approximately one-half of such a truck; view and cross sec- Fig. 3- isa'partial end tion on. the line a2-m o Fig, 2; j

Fig. i is a cross section on the line yy of 9;;

Fig 5 is a-transverse sectional view on the line'e -z of Fig. 3,

My truck is of standard type in so far as concerns the wheels and axles and the boxes which contain the axle journals and are connected to the side members 1. of the truck frame, body one of the main features of this invention, They are constructed ot portions 2 located substantially as usual outside of the wheeler, portions 3 which and, a portion l-intowhich the portions 3 merge, the portion i being substantially in line with the two adjacent wheels. Preferably this side member or beam is constructed of cast steel and is hollow after the manner of a box, as seen'in Fig, 3.

Thus the outer portions otthis bears are outside of thewheels and the inner orbody ortion. is substantially in line with the wheels, the beams being inwardly deflected for this purpose, resulting in the end portions being in an outer plane and the middle portion in an inner plane. The middle portion of the beam is slotted 'at 5 longi- These side members, however, em-- ll the cars of various deflect inwardly and those on the other and so shorten the secured thereto and unsupported portions of the transonis or cross beams 10. This permits of making these beams lighter than otherwise.- I also make them in'pairs, as shown more particularly in Figs. Zfand 1, where two pairs are shown, one pair late by a succession of bolts and-nuts 11.

y making. ableol to make each transom smaller and lighter and therefore-more flexible than if each transom were heavy enough to per form the service of a pair of transoms. This reduction of the size of each transom results in making the truck frame more flexible so as to better yield when, for instance, the wheels pass over depressions in the tracks, yet I do not weaken the truck frame lg these provisions for adding to its flexii ity.

It will be seen also that by reason of this peculiar type of side beam the brake heads 12 and their supporting links 13 and 14 are exposed and made perfectly accessible, being suspended from the middle or inner portion of ,the beam by means of plates 15 of the links 13 and 14:. The lower ends of these longer links 13 are pivoted to bosses .13 formed on the brake heads 12. The bosses have two holes, designated 13, into either of which the pivot pin 13 may be inserted. Similarly, theshorter links 14 are pivoted at their lower ends to the bosses 14% having two holes 14', in either of which the pivot pin 14 may be inserted.

to or farther from the w the purpose of taking up the wear that place on the brake shoe and wheel periphery.

In this way the lower ends ozt the links oints placed near eels, which is for takes may have their pivotal When the parts are newthe links are pivoted to the bosses by inserting the pivot ins in the holes nearest the brake shoe. W hen the parts become worn the adjustment is made to place the pivot pins in the holes farthest from the brakeshoe'.

In the old way, with the straight beams, the brake heads and the hanging links, in order to be in'line with the wheels, have been inside otfand remote from the side beams and have been suspended froma point inside or the beams or on the inside and extended so as to lessen attached to each gusset the transoms in pairs 1 am en-.

carrying the upper ends reac es faces of the beams and in this way have been rendered inaccessible and less observable when being under inspection for the purposes of determining whether they are out of order. These disadvantages are overcome by my type of sidebeam and the brake heads and hanging links are presented in full view'and readily within reach.

And it will be understood that as the links 13 and 1 1 are of unequal length and as each connects with the head 12, as before stated, the movement of the head when the links 13.and 14 are swung will be such as to maintain the parallelism ,of the brake head or its rub plate 16 with the wheel periphery. The advantage is the even wear of the rub plate and the wheel periphery on the wheel throughout thelength of the rubplate. The faces of the rub plates 16 are made-on the same curvature as that of the periphery. of the wheel and then when mounted in these heads which are sustained in this arrangement of links, the rub plates are kept parallel with the wheel faces.

The brake levers 6 and 7 are pivotally hung on the pivots 14 So that when the pivot pin 14 is adjusted, with the link 14, to either of'the holes 14:, the lever is like wise adjusted. Theseremarks apply to both the levers 6 and 7.

A sprin 17 connects the lever 6 with the lever the latter being connected to and referably integral with the pull beam 8. y ,making the levers 7 integral with the pull beam the levers act as spacers to keep the brake heads in the proper position laterally, spacing one with respect to the other. And by the construction described the brake heads and links can be assembled on the bench and later readily attached to the beams of the truck by merely securing the plates 15 to. the beams. And likewise they can be readily detached from the beams; j

, ile the means for taking up the slack or properly spacing the brake heads with respect to each other form no part of this invention 1 have illustrated a well known type of slack adjustergenerally indicated at 18.

- Referring now tothe instrumentalities for mounting the car body. on the truck, 20 designates the bolster oi? two angle beams 21 (seeFig. 41) which extend from side to side of the truck. At their outer ends they are connected together by a strong bracket 22 bolted or otherwise strongly secured to them, as indicated at 23, so that the ends of the two beams comprising the bolsters are rigidly and reliably united. The middle portions of these bolster beams are secured together by a center plate 2% by means presentl mentioned. Thus the built-up bolster whi e light, is strong and rigid. The angle and particularly the grip of the rubplate the bolster shown in latter springe 7 within the b0 ster to which they are secured by heavy transverse clips 31 which extend neeeeea iron construction aiiords an derneath the bolster for the of the leaf springs, as will presently appear, a filling, 25, say of wood. being preferably placed between the bolster and the springs. A center bearing 26 supports the car body in the usual orany conventional way and is fitted withli n a collar 24* of the plate 24:, as

ig. 5. And the outer ends of the bolster, through 'the-instrumentality of the bracket 22 is provided with side bearings- 27 with Which'contact car plates 28 Which are conveniently attached to the car body. The under side of each bracket 22constitutes a pocket within which is'locatedand secured a spiral supplementary spring 29 which is used only when very heavy car bodies are to be mounted on the truck, say bodies weighing 3500 pounds, or in excess thereof. In such cases these supplementary springs .29 are used while when bodies of lighter weight are to be-car- 'ried by the trucks, these springs are omitted.

Butin all cases the transverse leaf springs 30 are employed as they constitute the main spring element. The supplemental springs bear upon them at a point substantially midway between their center and ends and where the leaves are greater in number than near the ends. In this way the heavier loads are sustained by the combined springs the lighter bodies are susleaf springs alone. These generally occupy the space as efiiciently as tained by the around the two-springs, as seen in Fig. 2, and thence through the bolster and plate 24 and'are held by nuts 32.

Other clips 33 longitudinal of the springs and located between them, as shown in Fig. 2, pass under the clips 31 Clam s 35 and lling 25 form a between the filling springs and the under side of thetop flangesof the bolster. Tn this manner the springs in this middle portion are properly connectedwith the bolster, permittmgthem to duly flex under the weight and vibrations of use.

At their ends the springs are suspended from the side members 1 by means of links 37, preferably 3 in number, at each side, as shown in Fig. 1. The npperends of the links are sustained by brackets 38 projecting from the middle portion 4 of the side beam. Bars- 39 pass throu' h sleeves 49 which latter rest in shoes 41 suit ably secured to the bracket 38. in turn, the springs are attached to the links at their lower ends through-similar pass through the links and their lower sleeve 43, the sleeves bearing on shoes 4 suitably secured to the ends of the springs.

open space un accommodation aft direction and likewise rangement and or inward of the outer portions, of

and thence through 20 and plate 24; and have nuts 34.-

hold the spring leaves together p and connected with the links and through said inner portions of the beams,

in said slots. bars 42 which i By these arrangements and devices the body is supported primarily through transverse springs, supplemented in the case of very heavy bodies by thecoiled springs 29 and is permitted to swing laterally as the cars travel oncurves as distinguished from the car bodies merely rolling over toward the outside on atheoretical longitudinal axis, as in the old way ot'mounting bodies.- Again, as the leaf springs are rigid in a fore and the bolster is maintained against longitudinal movement by fitting against or being in close relation to the adjacent ,transoms 10, the car body is-prevented from longitudinal motion or lurches,

' a rveryvaluable result.

T have before remarked upon the advantages and utilityot this new type of side beam of thetruck and ot the advantages from its use .andthe resulting aranization of the mechanism which coact t erewith. I

Having thus fully described my invention, what'l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is': 1

1. In a car truck, the combination, with side beams having an innerportion located in a plane inward of'that of the outer por tions, of a bolster adapted to sustain a car body, a transverse leaf spring support secured to the bolster near and having its ends secured to the side beams. 2. In a car truck, the combination, with side beams having inner portions in a plane I a bolster adapted to sustain a car body, a leaf spring support secured to the-bolster near the middle portion and havingits ends projected beneath and laterally beyond said inner portions of the beams, and links connecting said ends with said portions of the beams.

3. In a car truck, the combination, with side beams having inner portions located in lanes inward of that of the outer portions and" substantially in line with the wheels, and having brake-lever slots also in line with the wheels, gusset plates secured thereto inward-0t said slots and transoms secured to the gusset plates, ot a :bolster adapted to sustain the weight of a car body, a transverse leaf spring support secured to the bolster and having its ends projected beneath and beyond theinner portions of the-beams, brackets on the beams, links swung from the brackets the ends of the spring support,;'said parts being within a line extending from one outer portion to the other of the beams, brake heads suspended from and brake levers pivoted thereto and adapted to travel (hl'n' a car truck, the combination, with sidebeams whose inner portions are in a plane inward from that of the end portions, and transoms connecting saidside beams tothe middle portion,

I to

" the inward portions of th Side gether, of a bolster adapted to support a car' body, and transverse leaf springs secured to thebolster and suspended at their outer ends to the inner portion of said beams. .5. In a car truclg, the combination, with side beams whose nner portions are ina plane inward of that of the outer portions,

gusset plates secured to the inner portions and transoms secured to the gusset plates, the

inward position of the middle portions of the beams and gusset plates acting to shorten the span ofthe unsupported portions of the transoms, of a bolster secured to the bolster .QSll-I ks from the inner -I+ beams, the bolster and adapted to support the weight of the car body and locate it between the transoms,

and transoms in pairs secured to the gusset plates, of a bolster adapted to sustain the cent transoms,

car bodylocated in the space'between adja- 'fcu'red to the under side of the bolster, links carried by beams and sustaining at their other ends the outer pormounted at one end on brackets tions of the leaf -springs, said springs afiord- I 7 ing resilient support" vertically and said springs and links permitting side swing and with the bolster preventing longitudinal movement of the body.

Ina cartruck, the combination, with isidebeams whose inner portions are in a planeinward' of that of the outer portions, gusset plates securedfto the inner faces of the inward portions and transoms in pairs secured to thegusset plates,

between the adjacent M .transoms, the side beams being box-like,

the transoms rectangular and the bolster channel-like in cross section, leaf springs whosemiddle portion is Within the channel of the bolster and whose outer portions extend below and laterally beyond the side beams, devices to secure the springs to the bolster, on the outside of the inward portion of the beams and supporting the outer portionsof the leaf springs.

- 8 In acar-truck, the combination, with side beamswhose inner portions are in a plane inward of the outer portions, and transoms connecting together the inner portions of the beams, of a bolster adapted to sustain a car body, transverse leaf springs secured .crumed to the beams and transverse springs transverse leaf springs se-- of a bolster located.

and links supported slots also in line with the masses to the bolster and suspended from the inner portions of the side beams, and supplemental springs located between the bolster and the leaf springs and adapted to transfer weight from the bolster to theleaf springs.

19. In a car truck, the combination, with side beams having inner portions in a plane inward of that of the outer portions, and having brake-lever slots, of brake heads sustained by the beams and brake levers fuland occupying said slots, gusset plates sustained by the beams inward oftheslotsand transoms secured to the gusset plates, of a bolster adapted to sustransverse leaf springs secured to the bolster, and links connecting the outer portions of the leaf springs to the inlward portion of the beams.

10. In a cartruck, the combination, with side beams having middle portions located in a planeinward of the outer portions and sub stantially in line with the wheels, and having brake-lever slots, of brake heads suspended from the beams and having actuating levers pivoted to the beams and occupying each one of said slots.

11. In a car truck, a side beam having its middle portion in a plane inward of that of the outer portions, and gusset plates secured to said inner portion bf the beam.

12. In a car truck, aside beam having its inner portion in a plane inward of that of the outer portions, and having brake-lever slots in said inner portion, and gusset plates secured to'said ortion at a point farther inward than said slots. 13. In a car truck, the combination, with a side beam having and portions which form exclusive supporting members of the beam located wholly on theouter side'of the wheels, thence extended inward between the wheels, and a middle portion connected to such inward extensions and located in a plane substantially in'line with the. wheels, of brake heads suspended from the beam and located substantially in line with said middle portion.

14:. In a car truck, the combination, with a a plane inward of the outer orti'ons and sub stantially in line with the w eels and having wheels, of brake headsfsuspended from the beam and located in line with said inner portion, and brake levers pivoted to the beam connected to the brake heads and located at one end within said slots.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my siature THQMAS ELLIOTT.

side beam having a middle portion located in 

